Teachers’ Respect is not limited . . .

Saturday, June 26, 2010
Hiba Moeen
0 Comments

You would have heard elders saying that teachers are not respected anymore as they used to be when they were kids. However, I disagree, teachers are still respected, though, maybe not all, and times have changed, things have evolved; they don’t treat by the crook, they don’t beat up students. Virtual beating could be harsher . . . *hehehe*

Procedures have evolved so have attitudes, they don’t beat you up if you have plagiarized, they simply award an ‘F’ that is worst than any form of beating and it might hurt forever as opposed to a simple punch or some spanking or a slap for that matter. However, such an ‘F’ is quite understood and reasonable for plagiarism plagues, people should get what they deserve.

Being a part of a business school when it came to opting for electives, people chose various courses while some ended changing their choices as well but what seemed surprising and disrespectful was an act shown by some students. Some of them have a habit of attending the class and gauging what kind of teacher it is. If you are interested in a course, you should plan to study it rather than testing the teacher.

During introduction in the first session some have a habit of saying, ‘I’m just attending the class but I’m not sure if I would study this course or not.” Oh well, genius why were you there in the first place? This is the profound level of disrespect one can present to a teacher, especially an Elective teacher, if you are not interested in the course and have brought your existence into a teacher’s class, at least don’t express how much you are disrespecting the teacher by saying that you are just here to see things around and might not study the course. And yes! It is considered to be a high level of disrespect.

There are ways of respecting this profession and I’m still proud to say that I belong to a place where teachers are still respected and there is not just one way of respecting teachers, respect is shown through actions not words. For example, some people would end up informing a teacher about their absence beforehand or if they need to leave early they would take permission, this is respect!

Some care free students, on the other hand, have a habit of making their choice between so called, ‘chill teachers’ and ‘difficult teachers’. Eventually summers are there for them as the coordinator understands their thought processes and just won’t allow to opt for some other teacher than the one assigned. Some students do have a habit of taking undue advantage of such thought of as ‘chill teachers’ and would end up availing a lot of absences or bunking classes thinking the teacher would not notice or wouldn’t bother. Mind you . . . Test this attitude with such teachers during term report presentations and serious assignments, what some might be considering as a chill person would end up being extremely fair, now . . . being chill does not mean the teacher isn’t fair. Just because they give you some room for creativity or leniency does not mean they would let you take undue advantage of them.

I remember I was taking a Summer course last year, the teacher was good and nice and thought of as easy by many. During the term report presentation, one over smart group presented an ‘already presented in the past’ report, they didn’t even have the courtesy of removing the previous group members’ names from the report and rather decided to paste a paper with their names. The teacher peeled off the paper and showed it to them. There you go . . . They got an ‘F’ from the so called chill teacher. Eventually, chill can even become cold when treated with such surrounding conditions. And term reports do not get completed over night . .. they might take weeks and even end up going beyond the word or page limit if worked on enthusiastically thus presenting the teacher with a nightmare to check . . . Knowledge is acquired not copy pasted . . .

A semester back, I had a pretty hectic day, I was in school since the morning, had my 6:30 pm class and the next day I had an hourly. Quite a number of students decided to avail their absence for that particular class to study for Brand Management hourly the next day. There were hardly 10 students in the class that day. I thought of availing my absence too since I hadn’t availed any for that course up to that moment and I also knew the teacher had seen us, many of us who won’t be in his class that day. I thought that was disrespectful if most of the students are absent from a class and that would make the teacher feel bad. I was silly enough to go to that teacher and ask him for permission to leave because I had to study a lot for the next day. He told me that a lot of students would be absent in class that day but then he also mentioned, ‘It’s your wish if you want to leave, you have your absences.’ Hmmmmmm . . . At least show your physical presence if most of your class mates are absent, I finally decided to stay, ‘I can stay up the entire night to revise for the hourly the next day . . . no worries, staying awake is nothing new to me.’ *not that I am a vampire but I can behave like one* I don’t know why I was silly and crazy enough to ask a teacher’s permission to avail my own absence but the fact is that I have never even bunked a class my entire life and it seems bad if you just run away from the class. I never even bunked my awfully boring Pakistan Studies classes in O’Levels.

Also respecting does not mean you never disagree with the teacher . . . you can and students do but in a polite way. In my first semester when we had our Management class I disagreed with my teacher that students at this age still need pocket money and I expressed my views that we can earn ourselves for petty expenses. I felt she got offended and disagreed with me, well the entire class did and I still disagree with all of them but that does not mean you do not respect your teacher by disagreeing with what he/she has said. Use your brains and hands, depend less on parents, you can earn at home by being a writer, there are many options for availing your skills.

With social media gaining momentum, teachers and students have got more to having friendlier terms than just having a student teacher relationship; however, there will always be a thin line between respect and crossing that line.

I believe, this is a profession worth tremendous respect and teachers are still respected even to this day, it’s just that some leave a lasting impression on us in shaping our capabilities and some don’t. And enjoying such respect and a profession worth so much, I would want to see myself in such a position some day.